Compensation to the drivers is meagre - Oye

Accra, Sept. 19 GNA - Nana Oye Lithur, A Regional Coordinator for Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), on Friday said her organisation was not satisfied with compensation paid to some drivers and their mates who were recently molested by military guards at the 37 Military Hospital. Nana Lithur, who is also a Legal Practitioner and Human Rights Activist, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said that her organisation conducted investigation into the incidence, which occurred on August 6, this year and petitioned the Commission for Human Rights and Administration Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the matter for the culprit to be punished.

She added that CHRI and CHRAJ have never received any report about any disciplinary actions against the culprits. She said the military guards should be made to apologise personally to the victims.

Commenting on whether political parties were addressing issues concerning Human Rights in their campaign messages, she said few of them have made the effort but it wasn't satisfactory since they were addressing the issues indirectly.

"Human right issues are everyday issues which touches and concerns every Ghanaian and so should be the main focus of anybody who wants to rule the country," she said.

She reiterated that issues like Police brutality or the role of the military and their function within the civil society, violation of environmental rights, gender violence, poverty and linkages with human rights, access to justice and reproductive rights were few of the Human Rights issues which political parties were not addressing. "If our political parties are not addressing issues of human rights now, when are we going to have the privilege to know" she asked. She commended the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the passage of the Domestic Violence Bill but added that they've done a little to ensure its full implementation and urged political parties to create the awareness of the bill.

"No political party have been talking about how they are going to implement the domestic violence act when they come to power" She said that there weren't enough resources to address issues of justice and also judges in the country were very few which was affecting the smooth running of the judicial system. She also touched on the issues of poverty and said that any political party which was prepared to lead the country should come out with measures that would help reduce poverty.